Ginger Miso Butternut Squash Soup with Apple
A silky miso butternut squash soup with fresh ginger, a tart apple and a little coconut milk, finished with tamari-toasted pumpkin seeds. Easy fall dinner.
- Prep
- 20 min
- Cook
- 35 min
- Serves
- 4
Ginger Miso Butternut Squash Soup with Apple is a vegan dinner recipe made with olive oil, yellow onion, garlic. It takes 55 minutes of hands-on time, serves 4, and each serving has 334 calories, 8 g of protein and 7 g of fiber.
This soup gets its depth from white miso, which adds savory, salty flavor to sweet squash. The miso goes in at the end, off the heat, so it keeps its flavor instead of cooking flat. A tart apple simmered with the squash brightens the soup, fresh ginger gives it warmth, and a small amount of coconut milk makes it creamy without hiding the other flavors. Pumpkin seeds toasted with a few drops of tamari add crunch.
Ingredients
Soup
- 2 tbsp27 golive oil
- 1 medium110 gyellow onion, chopped
- 3 cloves9 ggarlic, minced
- 2 tbsp12 gfresh ginger, peeled and finely grated
- 6 cups840 gbutternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 1-inch cubes (about 6 cups; from one 2½ lb squash)
- 1 medium182 gtart apple (such as Granny Smith), peeled, cored and chopped
- 4 cups960 glow-sodium vegetable broth
- ½ tsp3 gsalt, plus more to taste
- ½ cup113 gfull-fat canned coconut milk, well stirred
- 3 tbsp51 gwhite (shiro) miso
- 1 tsp5 grice vinegar
- ¼ tsp0.6 gblack pepper
Topping
- ¼ cup32 graw pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
- 1 tsp6 gtamari or soy sauce
- 2 30 ggreen onions, thinly sliced (optional)
- 1 tsp4.5 gtoasted sesame oil, for drizzling (optional)
Kit: large pot or Dutch oven, blender or immersion blender, small skillet
Tips
- Stick with white or yellow miso. Red miso is much stronger and can overpower the squash and apple.
- Use a tart apple. A very sweet one like Fuji makes the soup taste like dessert.
- To make peeling easier, pierce the whole squash in several places with the tip of a sharp knife, then microwave it for 2–3 minutes. The piercing lets steam escape — an unpierced squash can burst. Let it sit until it is cool enough to handle before peeling; the skin stays soft enough for a vegetable peeler to glide through.
- Keep the pumpkin seeds separate until serving so they stay crunchy.
Swap ideas
- Kabocha squash instead of butternut
- A drier, nuttier squash that is traditional in Japanese cooking. The soup comes out thicker, so you may need an extra ½ cup of broth. Kabocha skin is edible, but peel it if you want a bright orange soup.
- Pear instead of apple
- Softer, more floral sweetness with less tartness. Add a little extra rice vinegar to balance it.
- Cashew cream or oat milk instead of coconut milk
- Removes the coconut flavor. Cashew cream is just as rich, while oat milk makes a lighter soup.
- Add 1 tsp sriracha or a pinch of red pepper flakes with the ginger
- Adds gentle heat that works well against the sweet squash.
The numbers
Nutrition per serving
334kcal per serving
Everything else · 4 servings per recipe
- Saturated fat
- 7.3 g 37%
- Sugars
- 12.8 g
- Sodium
- 1575 mg 68%
- Potassium
- 1055 mg 22%
- Calcium
- 139 mg 11%
- Iron
- 3.8 mg 21%
- Vitamin C
- 51 mg 56%
- Vitamin B12
- 0.01 µg 0%
% Daily Value on a 2,000 calorie diet. Calculated from USDA FoodData Central values for each ingredient; optional ingredients are excluded. Estimates vary with brands and portions.
Sources: Oil, olive, salad or cooking, Onions, raw, Garlic, raw, Ginger root, raw, Squash, winter, butternut, raw, Apples, raw, with skin (Includes foods for USDA's Food Distribution Program), Soup, vegetable broth, ready to serve, Salt, table, Nuts, coconut milk, canned (liquid expressed from grated meat and water), Miso, RICE VINEGAR (Branded, Mizkan America, Inc.) - unseasoned; 0 kcal, 0 g protein, carbs, sugar, fat and 0 mg sodium per 15 ml serving, Spices, pepper, black, Seeds, pumpkin and squash seed kernels, dried, Soy sauce made from soy (tamari)
Method
Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring now and then, until soft and translucent with a few golden edges, 6–8 minutes.
Stir in the garlic and ginger and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Don't let the garlic brown.
Add the squash, apple, broth and ½ tsp salt. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to a steady simmer. Cover partway and cook until a knife slides easily into the largest squash cubes, 20–25 minutes.
While the soup simmers, toast the pumpkin seeds in a dry small skillet over medium heat, shaking the pan often, until they puff and start to pop, 3–4 minutes. Take the pan off the heat, add the tamari and toss until the seeds look dry again. Tip them onto a plate.
Take the pot off the heat and stir in the coconut milk. Blend with an immersion blender until completely smooth. If you use a countertop blender, work in batches, fill it no more than halfway and remove the center cap of the lid, holding a folded towel over the opening so steam can escape.
Put the miso in a small bowl, whisk in about ½ cup of the hot soup until smooth, then stir the mixture back into the pot. Don't boil the soup after the miso goes in. If it needs reheating, warm it gently.
Stir in the rice vinegar and black pepper. Taste and add more salt only if needed, since miso is salty. If the soup is too thick, thin it with a splash of broth or water.
Ladle into bowls and top with the tamari pumpkin seeds. Add green onions and a few drops of toasted sesame oil if you like.
Storage: Cool the soup and refrigerate it in airtight containers for up to 4 days, or freeze it for up to 3 months. Reheat gently over medium-low heat without boiling, and add a splash of water if it has thickened. Store the toasted pumpkin seeds separately at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Questions
- How much protein is in ginger miso butternut squash soup with apple?
- Each of the 4 servings has 8 g of protein, 7 g of fiber and 334 calories, calculated from USDA FoodData Central values for every ingredient.
- Is ginger miso butternut squash soup with apple vegan?
- Yes. It contains no dairy, eggs, honey or other animal products.
- How long does ginger miso butternut squash soup with apple take to make?
- 20 minutes of prep and 35 minutes of cooking, so 55 minutes of hands-on time.
- Can you make ginger miso butternut squash soup with apple ahead?
- Cool the soup and refrigerate it in airtight containers for up to 4 days, or freeze it for up to 3 months. Reheat gently over medium-low heat without boiling, and add a splash of water if it has thickened. Store the toasted pumpkin seeds separately at room temperature for up to 1 week.
- What can I substitute in ginger miso butternut squash soup with apple?
- Kabocha squash instead of butternut — a drier, nuttier squash that is traditional in japanese cooking. the soup comes out thicker, so you may need an extra ½ cup of broth. kabocha skin is edible, but peel it if you want a bright orange soup.. Pear instead of apple — softer, more floral sweetness with less tartness. add a little extra rice vinegar to balance it.. Cashew cream or oat milk instead of coconut milk — removes the coconut flavor. cashew cream is just as rich, while oat milk makes a lighter soup.. Add 1 tsp sriracha or a pinch of red pepper flakes with the ginger — adds gentle heat that works well against the sweet squash..
- Does ginger miso butternut squash soup with apple contain gluten?
- Yes — the ingredient list includes gluten. Check the labels on the products you buy if you're cooking for an allergy.
Nutrition is calculated from USDA data for every ingredient — how we work it out.
Published September 20, 2026 ·Japanese-inspired
